Dying pets lived among dead

Lauded Catskills animal hospice being probed after PETA complaint

Updated 11:42 pm, Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Video frame grab from a undercover investigation of Angel's Gate, Inc., a self-proclaimed animal "hospice and rehabilitation center" in Delhi, N.Y. The video was obtained from PETA. (Courtesy PETA)

Video frame grab from a undercover investigation of Angel's Gate, Inc., a self-proclaimed animal "hospice and rehabilitation center" in Delhi, N.Y. The video was obtained from PETA. (Courtesy PETA)

Dying pets lived among dead

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DELHI -- The Delaware County district attorney's office is reviewing a request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals seeking an investigation into an animal hospice in the Catskills lauded on "Oprah" and "The Rachael Ray Show." PETA said its undercover investigation revealed that the facility, which promises care for doomed and dying pets, left the animals to suffer and perish in squalor.

District Attorney Richard T. Northrup said his staff is reviewing a report by the animal-rights group stemming from its clandestine examination of Angel's Gate Animal Hospice. PETA claims its investigator who posed as a volunteer at the shelter for three weeks late last year found that the rehabilitation center failed to properly treat animals in deteriorating health, intentionally denied the creatures water and shelter and left carcasses of dead pets out among living for days. Northrup said this was the first time a complaint had come to his office about Angel's Gate.

The nonprofit facility founded by Susan Marino in 1993 on Long Island relocated to Delhi in 2006. It has been featured on several national news outlets and television shows for its charitable work. In 2009, the shelter won Rachael Ray's Mutt Madness competition, which rewards what viewers vote to be the most outstanding charitable pet organization with $50,000. Angel's Gate beat out 550 other organizations for the top prize.

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Marino, 59, told the Times Union by phone Tuesday that allegations about her shelter mistreating and failing to properly care for the animals are false.

"We've done nothing wrong," said Marino, who voiced confidence that anyone visits the facility will see the hospice is doing good work.

Marino said the large residential building surrounded by acres of open land has seven or eight employees on site each day. Angel's Gate currently houses 185 cats, 103 dogs, 10 birds and three horses, she said.

In the 26-page complaint, PETA said its undercover agent, who was at Angel's Gate from 21 days at the end of November and beginning of December, witnessed the following:

Paraplegic dogs dragging themselves on the ground until they developed bruises when canine-fitted wheelchairs were readily available; pets covered for days in urine and feces; animals failing to receive prescribed medication and others given prescription medicine without a veterinarian's consent; animals left with only rancid meat to eat; pets with easily treatable medical conditions left uncared for; and carcasses left among living animals for days.

PETA released video shot surreptitiously, which it said documents the neglect and abuse. The animal-rights group said it was tipped off to the allegations by a young woman applied for a job at Angel's Gate and was appalled by what she saw.

Marino said all pets at the shelter receive the best care available. She said paraplegic dogs are left without their wheelchairs for portions of the day so they can lie down.

She acknowledged carcasses are left out for days in the same place the animal died -- often a bed -- because she believes "the animal's spirit lives on within its body after it has died."

"I'm not going to just throw it in a freezer," Marino said.

The carcasses, typically sealed inside a plastic bag shortly after death, are then disposed at a crematorium two or three days later, according to Marino.

Marino, who is a licensed veterinary technician, said she hired a full-time veterinarian on Wednesday to work at Angel's Gate, which previously had no veterinarians on staff. Marino maintained that hiring had nothing to do with the recent allegations. She said she and her staff take pets to local veterinarians, but that the vets rarely visit the shelter.

Calls to Delaware County veterinarians Marino said had cared for her animals were not returned Wednesday.

Last May, the state Department of Environmental Conservation was called to Angel's Gate when a neighbor called to say Marino was caring for deer and wild geese without the proper permits. A DEC report stated that agency officials found two deer under Angel's Gate's care living with dogs. The DEC found wounds on the deer that Marino said were inflicted by a Rottweiler under her care as well, according to the report obtained by PETA hrough a Freedom of Information Law request.

Marino was found to not have proper licensing to care for the wildlife and the deer were euthanized by the DEC because of their injuries.

Marino said she treated the deer's wounds and admitted she made a mistake attempting to integrate the deer with domesticated animals.

"I had never taken care of deer before," Marino said. "It was poor judgment on my part." Marino said she wasn't aware that permit to care for wildlife animals had lapsed.

Marino was also featured in Newsday and People magazine and on "Martha Stewart Living" and the CBS Early Show. She received the 2001 ASPCA Founders Award for her facility on Long Island.

At the end of PETA's five-minute video, Marino is shown in the driver's seat of a car talking to the animal rights investigator about the former facility in Long Island.

"Every agency from town came in couldn't find one violation," she says, then adds with a laugh, "Thank God they didn't come to this house."